Where in the World to Invest

The early results are in for 2014. After a couple of weeks of trading, things haven’t been as smooth for the equity markets as they were last year. Now, I guess that situation should come as little surprise for market observers, as 2013’s big run higher was an anomaly historically. So, how do some of the bigger markets stack up after nearly 10 full trading days?

In the United States, the S&P 500 Index has started out quite volatile, with several big sell-off days, as well as several big winning sessions. Year to date, however, the benchmark measure of large-cap domestic stocks is literally flat, trading right where it began in 2014.

The action so far in 2014 in other developed markets around the world basically has been the same. For example, the iShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA) is a broad measure of the international developed markets. Similar to SPX, EFA basically is flat so far in 2014 (-0.2%).